I’ve never been a fan of red velvet cake, but two years ago I was converted after tasting one from Guidry’s Cake Shop. Moister than most with a light, decadent cream cheese frosting, it’s one of those cakes I will never forget.
Guidry’s has a history as rich as its sweets. Opened in 1976 by Gladys Guidry, the bakery was a staple on New Iberia’s main street for 48 years. After Gladys’s passing 16 years ago, the cake shop was bought out by daughter Cimi Saunier who learned to bake by watching her mother at home, and practically grew up in the bakery, working during summers and after school.
Guidry’s specializes in cakes for all occasions- and they mean ALL occasions: weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, gender reveals, baptisms, graduations and holidays. They have made cakes for grand openings, divorces, and even “Happy Adoption Day” cakes. “My favorite is “Happy Gotcha Day” for new family pets,” Cimi adds.
Customers can choose one of six types of cakes, 10 fillings and three types of icing. Many say the star at Guidry’s Cakes is the red velvet cake, while others stand by the chocolate doberge. Equally impressive are the cupcakes, which are also available in stores in Loreauville, Lydia, New Iberia, Youngsville, Broussard, St. Martinville, Maurice, Scott, Duson, Kaplan and Lafayette.
What sets Guidry’s Cake Shop apart from other bakeries is Cimi’s commitment to making everything from scratch, just as her mother did. “We don’t use box mix. We make our own icings, cake dough and 90 percent of our fillings,” she confirms. Some ingredients are getting harder to find as she says the shortening she had long used has been changed.
“Altering an ingredient is a big deal in baking,” assures Cimi, who says she hears her mother’s voice in her head every day. “She would always say, ‘If it works, don’t change it.’” Another saying she recites: “Cheap cake is not always good, and good cake is not always cheap.”
While the holidays are a busy time at the bakery, the busiest month is May, with cake orders, coming as far as Patterson and Houston, celebrating graduations, first communion, confirmations and Mother’s Day.
Staying consistent and keeping tradition alive is very important to Cimi and her staff, which includes her son and daughter. “Customers telling me that my cakes taste exactly like they remember them when they were little is the best compliment I can get.”
This January, the bakery moved to Erath, (closer to Cimi’s Delcambre home) when the New Iberia location they’d rented for all these years went up for sale. “The saddest thing about moving was changing the phone number we’d had for so long,” smiles Cimi.
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